County Broadband Update December 2023

Sorry this is rather long but I think contains important details.

Some of you may have seen the presentation given by Craig Larter, Stakeholder Manager from County Broadband (who by the way left the company last week) to the Parish Council on the 4^th September this year (copy of video can be viewed HERE), and I raised a number of questions that he wasn’t able to answer at the meeting but promised to respond ASAP so I could let everyone know.

Well, I have been chasing ever since and have finally received a response from Simon Hughes, the Chief Commercial Officer at CB, which I have copied below verbatim. As you will see the dates have changed again since Craig presented to the PC on the 4^th Sept. There are some subsequent questions of clarification I am still wait for answers on, mainly regarding cancellations (may be dependent on when you “signed” your Pre-order terms and deferral.

Dear Mr Bush,

In response to your enquiry regarding the availability of full fibre broadband in Eltisley and Hilton, we are currently scheduled to complete the work to build our full fibre network in Eltisley by May 2024, and in Hilton by July 2024. This said, our build is taking us longer to complete than we had hoped, and I apologise for this.

We will be writing to our customers in Eltisley and Hilton shortly to provide an updates on our plans and these timescales, so they will be hearing from us directly, and we will keep them informed as our build progresses to completion and we are ready to arrange installation appointments. You will hopefully already have seen, or will see shortly, engineer activity as we undertake the builds in both villages. 

Our understanding is that County Broadband’s project means that we will be the only provider of full fibre broadband in both Eltisley and Hilton, providing one of the fastest broadband networks in the country. We appreciate the benefits that our network will bring to the residents of both villages and appreciate their patience in the meantime. Our services are up to 30 times faster than those available on the old copper broadband network currently serving villages.

In addition to much faster speeds based on the most reliable broadband network technology, our service will also include:

• The same speeds for both upload and download – not the case with many other full fibre networks
• A free standard connection, worth up to £225
• No price rises for the duration of your contract, unlike most other broadband providers who increase their prices by at least inflation (CPI) each year.
• An optional free digital phone line, with very competitive inclusive minutes packages while keeping your existing phone number; meantime BT will be switching off existing analogue phone lines across East Anglia next year
• A Refer a Neighbour scheme, worth £50 each to the referring and the new customer
• Our commitment to the communities we serve, supported by the Hypercharged charitable foundation we founded to award grants to local charities, groups and good causes in rural communities across the East  of England

In response to your questions:

        1) Can people cancel their pre-orders as we are now outside of the T&Cs dates.

Customers who have already placed orders with us may be on 2 different forms of contract, depending on the date of their order.

2) Is there a risk that the whole thing may be cancelled if too many people cancel.

Our investment in bringing full fibre broadband to Eltisley and Hilton was based on the number of customers who placed a pre-order for our services. We would hope that these customers and other residents continue to see the benefits of County Broadband’s services as the only service provider planning to build a full fibre broadband network in your villages.

         3) A definitive answer on deferral payments

Our customers can take advantage of our free connection and free deferral period promotional offers, which allows customers to request a deferral period for the duration of their existing contract (up to a maximum of 24 months) at the point when we contact you to arrange your installation.

I hope this email answers all of the questions you have raised, but offer to discuss any remaining queries on a call if helpful.

Thank you once again to our customers in Eltisley and Hilton for their support with this project.  We look forward to welcoming you to our network, where you will soon be able to experience reliable browsing, movies without buffering, gaming without lagging, crystal-clear video calls, and hyperfast downloads.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Hughes
Chief Commercial Officer
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  |  01376 562002  |  07875 422891  
Old Bourchiers Hall, New Road, Aldham, Essex, CO6 3QU
www.countybroadband.co.uk  

I am happy to try and answer any questions, but please be aware that I have nothing to do with CB, but do have some knowledge and experience with Broadband generally (was/am CCC Broadband Champion).

Best regards

Andy Bush
Connecting Cambridgeshire Hilton Broadband Champion
Editor, Hilton Village Website and Digital Archive

Hilton Parish Council Meeting

Full Council Meeting of Hilton Parish Council was held on Monday 6th November at 7.30pm

A video recording of this meeting can be found HERE

 Full Council Meeting of Hilton Parish Council was held on Monday 4th September  at 7.30pm

A video recording of this meeting can be found HERE

Full Council Meeting of Hilton Parish Council was held on Monday 3rd April  at 7.30pm

A video recording of this meeting can be found HERE 

Full Council Meeting of Hilton Parish Council was held on Monday 6th March at 7.30pm

A video recording of this meeting can be found HERE

Full Council Meeting of Hilton Parish Council was held on Monday 6th February at 7.30pm

A video recording of this meeting can be found HERE

Previous Parish Council Meeting Videos HERE